[fvc-wat-announce] Volunteer Meeting Thursday (and lots more stuff!)

Paul Nijjar paul_nijjar at yahoo.ca
Wed Sep 5 16:40:35 EDT 2007 

Yikes! September sure snuck up fast. The official
campaign period starts next week, and we are
buzzing with activity.  There are lots of events
to attend (and tell your friends about!) and lots
of ways to help the campaign out. 


Events Calendar
---------------

If you don't have the patience to read through
this e-mail, you can always see the collection of
our activities on our shiny new calendar of
events. Access it from our webpage
(http://www.fairvotecanada.org/WaterlooRegion) or
by visiting

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=v6mdihivmck5jr3so9d2ilbe04%40group.calendar.google.com

If you know of events we should have listed on our
calendar then please contact me with information. 


Volunteer Meeting
-----------------

With the school year starting and information
nights happening on Tuesdays we are changing our
volunteer meeting schedule. Our next meeting will
be held *tomorrow*, Thursday September 6 at
7:30pm. (Note the time change!) The meeting will
be held at the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social
Work building, 120 Duke St W in Kitchener behind
City Hall. 

This meeting is pretty important: we will be
getting prepared for the start of the campaign and
assigning volunteers to staff booths, drop off
literature and engage in door-to-door canvassing.
Please come by and help us out!


Booth Staffing
--------------

There are lots of shifts available for our booth
at the St. Jacob's Weekend Market on Saturdays
(7am-2pm) and Sundays (10am-4pm). You can take a
shift for all or part of a day, and if you are new
to staffing we will make sure there is somebody
experienced to show you the ropes. 

The Wilfrid Laurier and University of Waterloo
groups are both planning to staff booths on campus
throughout the campaign. To volunteer with the UW
group, contact Alex at alex.mccausland at gmail.com .
To volunteer with the Laurier group, contact
Graham at fvclaurier at gmail.com . 


In addition to the Farmer's Market, we will be
attending some festivals: 
- The Local Motion Festival: Sept 21 (UW) and Sept
  22 (WLU)
- The Nudge Festival: Thursday Sept 27
- University of Waterloo PAN Events (Sept 17-21)


All-Candidates Meetings
-----------------------

We are looking to compile a list of all-candidates
meetings for Cambridge, Kitchener-Waterloo,
Kitchener-Conestoga and Kitchener Centre.  If you
know of an all-candidates meeting that is not
listed on our events calendar then please drop me
a line. 

Currently, we are scheduled to be present at 
  - A Women in Politics meeting on September 11
  - An all-candidates meeting around poverty
    issues in Cambridge on Sept 20


Public Education Events
-----------------------

There are a number of exciting panel discussions
being organized at the University of Waterloo and
Wilfrid Laurier University. All of these events
are open to the public. 

- WLU is putting on a panel discussion on
  Wednesday Sept 19 at 4:30pm.  The location is
  TBA, but the speakers have been finalized:

   + Brian Tanguay, chapter co-chair and professor
   of Political Science, as well as the primary
   drafter for the 2004 Law Commission of Canada
   report "Voting Matters: Electoral Reform for
   Canada"

   + Matthew Certosimo, lawyer and Ontario
   Citizens' Assembly member

   + Jim Breithaupt, former Kitchener Centre MPP

- Also on Sept 19, the University of Waterloo is
  holding a panel. This will be at 7:00pm in the
  Student Life Centre Great Hall. The tentative
  panel members are: 

   + Brian Tanguay (again! He's in for a busy night...)
   + Steve Withers, who has lived in New Zealand
   for 11 years and is helping organize the Vote
   for MMP campaign in Ontario. 
   + Marcia Soeda, Ontario Citizens' Assembly
   member for Kitchener Centre
   + Ron VanKoughnett, Ontario Citizens' Assembly
   member for Kitchener-Waterloo. 

There are also plans for an October 1 panel at WLU
and two other events at the University of
Waterloo. Keep your eyes peeled on the webpage and
on this mailing list. 

Information Nights
------------------

In addition, we are continuing to hold referendum
information sessions on Tuesday nights. They are
held at 7pm at the Faculty of Social Work
building, 120 Duke St. W behind Kitchener City
Hall. We are having information sessions September
11, September 18, September 25 and October 2.
(Remember that the October 9 session is CANCELLED
because of the blackout period).

Attendance at information nights thus far has been
low, but those who have attended have found them
rather educational and somewhat inspiring.

Canvassing and Literature Drops
-------------------------------

We are going to start canvassing this weekend! Our
plan is to hit the smaller communities outside
Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge first, as well as to
have people canvas their own neighbourhoods. 

If the thought of human interaction scares you as
much as it does me, you can also help out by
stuffing literature into mailboxes. 

Canvassing takes lots of volunteer effort, but it
is one of the most effective ways to win a
campaign. If you can contribute a few hours (even
on a single day) then please attend our meeting
tomorrow or drop me an e-mail. 


Public Speaking
---------------

We would love to come out to your organization and
speak. A few groups have approached us already and
we are looking for more. We can give short or long
presentations. 

Postering/Leafletting
---------------------

We are looking to spread the word about the
referendum and our activities. We have some
beautiful glossy posters that you can take and put
up at your workplace and community centres, and
some less beautiful posters advertising our
information nights: 

http://www.fairvotecanada.org/files/wat-sept-poster.pdf

We also have some brochures and the OCA report
booklets that you can give out to friends and
family. Contact us to get a hold of some. A few
people have been passing out brochures at coffee
meetings and church groups, and they have
generated lots of interest. 


Donations
---------

You can make financial donations to the "Vote for
MMP" campaign. You can direct funds to the
provincial campaign (which keeps us well-supplied
with posters and brochures) or direct money to our
chapter. It takes lots of money to buy lawn signs
and run an effective campaign, so your donations
would be greatly appreciated. 


Other Groups
------------

You may have noticed that Referendum Ontario has
started its education campaign. Each riding has a
"referendum information officer" that you can book
to give short presentations. Referendum Ontario
also has brochures and posters that explain the
basics of the referendum. 

The opposition "No MMP" campaign is also running
strong, and they have a chapter in
Kitchener-Waterloo already. They have been working
hard to saddle us with our antiquated first past
the post system for another generation or two, and
according to their news release their effort is
paying off: they have generated a lot of publicity
and experienced an "overwhelming demand" for
speakers. If you want to see Ontario adopt a
proportional system that gives us more choice,
fairer results and stronger representation, now is
the time to get involved -- the clock is ticking,
and come October 11 we'll reap what we have sown. 

- Paul

--
Paul Nijjar  http://www.fairvotecanada.org/WaterlooRegion
Next Referendum Info Session: Sept 11, 7pm
(Please use this Yahoo! account for future correspondence.)


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